First Increase in Residential Sales in Five Years in the Montréal Metropolitan Area

L'ÎLE-DES-SŒURS, QC, Jan. 14, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Greater Montréal Real Estate Board (GMREB) has released its most recent residential sales statistics for the Montréal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), based on the real estate brokers' Centris® provincial database. In total, 37,935 residential sales were concluded in 2015, which represents a 6 per cent increase compared to 2014.

Click here to see the main statistics for the Montréal Metropolitan Area's residential real estate market.

Here are the highlights of 2015:

Sales:

Residential sales in the Montréal CMA increased for the first time in five years in 2015, registering their largest increase since 2007.

Residential transactions at $500,000 or more jumped by 17 per cent in 2015 across the Montréal CMA compared to 2014.

Sales of single-family homes and small rental properties (plexes) increased by 7 per cent, while condominium sales grew by 3 per cent.

Geographically, sales increases were observed on the Island of Montréal (+9 per cent), on the South Shore (+6 per cent), on the North Shore (+5 per cent) and in Laval (+3 per cent). Only Vaudreuil-Soulanges registered a small decrease in sales in 2015 (-1 per cent).

Prices:

Single-family homes ($289,829) and condominiums ($238,000) both registered a 3 per cent increase in median price, while plexes posted a 2 per cent increase ($445,000).

The median price of single-family homes rose by 4 per cent in Vaudreuil-Soulanges, the largest increase among the five main areas of the Montréal CMA.

The median price of condominiums on the Island of Montréal stood at $277,000 in 2015. This represents a 3 per cent increase compared to 2014, and can mainly be explained by strong sales in the $500,000+ price range.

Active listings:

The upward trend in the supply of properties for sale continued for a fifth consecutive year but seems to have weakened with only a 2 per cent increase in 2015.

The supply of condominiums increased by 4 per cent, while single-family home and plex listings both increased by 1 per cent.

"For the first time in five years, the increase in sales surpassed the increase in active listings, so that market conditions became slightly tighter in 2015 for single-family homes and plexes," said Daniel Dagenais, President of the GMREB Board of Directors. "Overall, however, market conditions for these two property categories remain balanced, while there is still an excess supply of condominiums," he added.

An Excellent Fourth Quarter of 2015

The year 2015 ended on a very high note, as residential sales jumped by 9 per cent in the Montréal CMA compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.

More specifically, the South Shore and the North Shore stood out with respective sales increases of 12 and 11 per cent.

Province of Québec: 2015 was a Year of Change for the Residential Real Estate Market

The Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards (QFREB) has released its most recent residential sales statistics for the province of Québec, based on the real estate brokers' Centris® provincial database. In total, 74,207 residential sales were concluded in 2015, a 5 per cent increase compared to 2014.

"This result for 2015 represents the first annual increase in sales in three years on the province's residential real estate market, and the largest increase since 2007," said Paul Cardinal, Manager of the QFREB's Market Analysis Department.

Click here to see the main statistics for the province's residential real estate market.

Sales

By property category, single-family home sales increased by 6 per cent, while condominium and plex sales both rose by 4 per cent.

Geographically, four of the province's six Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) registered an increase in sales in 2015: Montréal (+6 per cent), Gatineau (+6 per cent), Québec City(+2 per cent) and Sherbrooke (+1 per cent). In contrast, the Saguenay and Trois-Rivières CMAs registered respective decreases of 2 per cent and 3 per cent.

Among the smaller urban centres, the largest sales increases were observed in the agglomerations of Val-d'Or (+41 per cent), Thetford Mines (+16 per cent), Alma (+15 per cent), Saint-Lin-Laurentides (+15 per cent) and Saint-Sauveur (+14 per cent).

Prices

The median price of single-family homes increased only slightly across the province in 2015, rising by 1 per cent compared to 2014 to reach $230,000.

The Montréal, Gatineau and Sherbrooke CMAs registered increases of 3 per cent, 1 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively, in the median price of single-family homes, while that of the Québec City CMA remained stable. In contrast, the Saguenay and Trois-Rivières CMAs posted a decrease in the median price of single-family homes, with respective drops of 3 per cent and 4 per cent.

Outside of the metropolitan areas, the largest increases in the median price of single-family homes compared to 2014 were in the agglomerations of Mont-Tremblant (+5 per cent) and Thetford Mines (+5 per cent).

The supply of residential properties for sale grew by 5 per cent in 2015 as there were, on average, 81,606 active listings on the real estate brokers' Centris® system.

Finally, the average selling time, for all residential property categories combined, stood at 120 days in Québec, which represents an increase of 5 days compared to 2014. However, average selling times were much higher in regions outside of the province's metropolitan areas (148 days vs. 108 days).

2015 Ends on a High Note

In the fourth quarter of 2015, the number of residential transactions jumped by 7 per cent in Québec for a total of 15,769 sales.

The Montréal and Gatineau CMAs stood out with sales increases of 9 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.

Note: Regional press releases are available on the QFREB website, in the Newsroom section.

About the Greater Montréal Real Estate Board

The Greater Montréal Real Estate Board is a non-profit organization with close to 9,300 members: real estate brokers. Its mission is to actively promote and protect its members' professional and business interests in order for them to successfully meet their business objectives.

About the Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards

The Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards is a non-profit organization composed of Québec's 12 real estate boards and the more than 13,000 real estate brokers who are their members. Its mission is to promote and protect the interests of Québec's real estate industry so that the boards and their members can successfully meet their business objectives.

About Centris.ca

Centris.ca is Québec's real estate industry website for consumers, grouping all properties for sale by a real estate broker under the same address. Visit Centris.ca to obtain more information and quarterly statistics for the province of Québec.

For more information about the Centris® statistics for each of the province's regions, don't miss the upcoming publication of the QFREB Barometer.